Maeda-Suetsuna, who have not won any titles since winning the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold last year, booked their tickets to the quarter-finals when they defeated Duanganong Aroonkesorn-Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand 21-16, 21-6.

Japan also have three players left in the women’s singles draw with Ai Goto, Minatsu Mitani and Sayaka Sato marching into the last eight where 2010 world champion Wang Lin of China is also lurking.

None of the Indonesian women’s singles players survived the third day of action, but over in the men’s singles, Simon Santoso, Taufik Hidayat and Alamsyah Yunus joined Sho Sasaki (above) and Takuma Ueda in the final eight, where 2010 world champion Chen Jin is also waiting with intent.

Indonesia and Japan each have three pairs left in the men’s draw with Alvent Yulianto Chandra-Hendra Aprida Gunawan, Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan and Angga Pratama-Ryan Agung Saputra leading the way for the latter.

In the mixed doubles, Shintaro Ikeda-Reiko Shiota (right), and Kenichi Hayakawa-Misaki Matsutomo will carry Japan’s challenge when the quarter-finals get underway on Friday.

With plenty still to play for, the shuttlers will be all fired up to collect valuable Olympic qualification points before the period ends at the end of the month, by doing well in this tournament.

The Japanese contingent are also seeking to maintain their grip on power as a year ago, Sasaki (men’s singles), Hiroyuki Endo-Kenichi Hayakawa (men’s doubles) and Matsuo-Naito (women’s doubles) went home with the top prize.